With the increasing popularity of SARMs questions have arisen regarding their potential impact on sexual health, specifically the occurrence of erectile dysfunction (ED. Let’s see if there is a connection between SARMs usage and the risk of experiencing erectile dysfunction.
How SARMs Work
SARMs are designed to selectively target androgen receptors in the body, leading to anabolic effects such as enhanced muscle growth and improved athletic performance. It is important to distinguish SARMs from traditional anabolic steroids, as SARMs exhibit a more focused action on skeletal muscle tissue, minimizing potential adverse effects on other organs.
How can SARMs Cause Erectile Dysfunction?
SARMs bind to the AR in a tissue selective manner with a high affinity for AR located in bone and muscle tissues. Clinical data and anecdotal evidence support that most SARMs at high enough dosages will cause significant suppression of endogenous testosterone suppression.
This can indirectly lead to low testosterone symptoms like low libido and erectile dysfunction. Something important to note is that if a SARM cycle is designed properly this should not happen while on cycle.
Low testosterone symptoms are pretty common when starting PCT though, as when trying to restart the HPTA, there will inevitably be a phase that often last for a couple weeks, where the amount of hormones in the body will be very low.
Something to note is these low-test symptoms are often associated with low levels of testosterone in the body, but it seems from anecdotal data online, that it likely has more to do with having tanked estrogen levels. Some people even did years long SARM cycles with S4 while introducing an exogenous source of estrogens (like birth control pill) and felt good while on cycle despite having their test production completely shut down.
How to Avoid Erectile Dysfunction on a SARM Cycle
Do you research properly regarding the suppressiveness of the compounds you’re going to use and either go for very short cycles with low to moderate dosages of not very suppressive SARMs or make sure to introduce a test base while on cycle.
Erectile dysfunction specifically can be caused by psychological factors as well. The fear of experiencing this symptom can in some cases cause the symptom by itself. Therefore, it is important if taking anabolics, to do your research properly and design your cycles in a way that should not make it possible for this symptom to happen while on cycle and go in with a positive mindset that nothing bad is going to happen, and that if a side effect occurs you will know what to do to mitigate it or fix it.
How to Restore Normal Sexual Function After a SARM Cycle
To restore normal sexual function, you should do a PCT after stopping the SARM cycle if needed. Getting blood-work 1 month after having finished PCT can also be very useful to know if you’re hormones bounced back where they should be.
My Personal Experience Using SARMs
I’ve never experienced any significant loss in libido while on a SARM cycle and that’s including a many different SARMs and various dosages. Some SARMs like RAD 140 and S23 even increased my libido a fair amount while on cycle.
Low libido symptoms arose for me in the first 2 weeks of PCT and by the end of PCT everything got back to normal.
